Although i have not studied Islamic art, I did consider Eastern art in contrast to Western art in developing my conjunctive theory of art. In Eastern art I was interested in the presence of absence (blank spaces) in contrast to Western.

That said I could imagine reflecting on the Artwork in this post by considering its three dimensions of skill, creativity and its mimetic qualities.

I defer to an Aristotlean conception of mimesis in the Western tradition, in which the artist brings forth some new element of learning /knowledge about the subject, rather than simply reproducing a particular image (which is a Platonic conception of mimesis). I have a copy of my development of the conjunctive theory of art in my research area.

I would hesitate to offer any actual critique as I am not as familiar with the subject as I would need to be; that said I would suggest that the work offers both artistic skill and creativity; the balance of critique must lie in its mimetic qualities.

An interesting question Zakria Hashim ,thank you for posting.

this is interesting , can you give some context to the characters in this painting ?

David Atkinson ...thanks... I am very interested to know about the principles of your theory related to art

Ziad Alsidran .. A painting from the Book of (Maqamat al-Hariri) "beginning of the thirteenth century" called (al- Maqamat al-Ma'ariyah), representing a court session in which the judge and witnesses appear... لوحة من كتاب مقامات الحريري (بداية القرن الثالث عشر) تسمى المقامة المعرية تمثل مجلس محاكمة يظهر فيها المشتكي والقاضي والشهود

Zakria Hashim I hope you find the attached link of interest...

Thesis PhD Thesis (2006) Chapter 4 -A Conjunctive Theory of Art: Tr...

David Atkinson ...... Thanks for paying attention

Though the issues raised for the judge to rule upon are unclear, in this painting the facial expressions and postures of all four characters are very distinct from one another and reveal a lot about the moods and concerns of each character. The judge's neutrality speaks of doing justice but not being moved by the pleading posture of the supplicant near his face. The witness on the left appears objective; the one on the right appears concerned and perhaps fearful. I may be wrong but even if so, the artist's rendering and capture of the expressions and postures is quite masterful.

Jim Drummond ... Thanks for the interest... A worthwhile read... Facial expressions are an important point in the topic.

From a layman's perspective, it's appearing as though the the dark-dressed man is trying to sell an art piece, for which he is receiving handsome reward from the judge; the man behind him is pointing to the art piece's authenticity and the man behind him is angrily pointing towards the man who is pointing towards the art piece!

Achala Bhargavi ... شكرا جزيلا ... رأيك يهمني كثيرا ...هناك الكثير من العناصر المشتركة بين الفن الاسلامي والفن الهندي Thank you very much... your opinion matters a lot to me... There is a lot in common between Islamic art and Indian art

Achala Bhargavi Zakria Hashim If I were wearing my writer's hat I would write several short stories relating a number of differing interpretations of this work of art. Each character could be benevolent, malevolent or neutral, and in each story the controversy could be different. even the role and significance of the art piece might change. The more I look at this painting, the more impressed I become. I hope I can sleep tonight. :) I looked online and saw that the artist is listed as "Arabischer Maler" um 1335 and is that a single person or an unknown artist? I saw The Crow King and his Council which was Arabischer Maler um 1150 and it noted it was painted for Norman Kings. So I did not think the "artist" of both could be the same person given the dates.

Jim Drummond ..

Thank you very much..a wonderful discussion..yes, the painting can express more than one meaning..but it is a scene of a court session in which the judge, the accused and witnesses appear..and the artist who painted it is from Baghdad and is different from the artist who painted the painting you mentioned to the Normans.. Greetings

Zakria Hashim Given the dates I figured that it could not have been the same artist. Because I am a criminal defense lawyer the painting is especially compelling. I would still like to know what Arabischer Maler actually means.

Jim Drummond (Arabischer Maler) is a German term that means an Arab painter, and it refers to all Arab and Muslim painters between the 7th century and the 15th century.

@Zakria Hashim

Thank you!